720 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL, HERBARIUM, 



Colubrina alamani DC.,^ described from Mexico, is probably the same species, 

 but it may be the same as C. greggii. 



6. Colubrina celtidifolia (Schlecht. & Cham.) Schlecht. Linnaea 15: 471. 1841. 

 Ceanothus celtidifolius Schlecht. & Cham. Linnaea 5: 602. 1830. 



Veracruz ; type from Jalapa. Guatemala. 



Leaves ovate or broadly elliptic-ovate, 7 to 11 cm. long, rounded or sub- 

 cordate at base, bright green. 



7. Colubrina greggii S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 336. 1882. 



Coahuila and Nuevo Le6n to Veracruz and Yucatan; type from Monterrey, 

 Nuevo Leon. 



Shrub or small tree ; leaves on long or short petioles, oblong-ovate to 

 broadly ovate, 4 to 12 cm. long, obtuse to cordate at base. " Manzanita," 

 " guayul " (Tamaulipas) ; " pimiento-che," " yax-pukim," " yax-puken " 

 (Yucatan, Maya). 



This has been reported from Yucatdn as C. ferruginosa Brongn., a West 

 Indian species. The fruit* is said to be edible. Palmer reports that in 

 Tamaulipas the wood is used for shoe pegs. 



9. CEANOTHUS L. Sp. PI. 195. 1753. 



Shrubs or small trees, often with spinose branchlets ; leaves alternate or 

 opposite, short-petiolate, entire or toothed, usually triplinerved ; flowers per- 

 fect, in cymes or umbels, these usually forming panicles or thyrses; petals 

 white, pink, or blue ; calyx 5-lobate ; petals 5 ; stamens 5 ; fruit dry, 3-coccous, 

 longitudinally dehiscent. 



Some of the species are showy when in flower. The blue-flowered ones are 

 known on the Pacific coast of the United States as " California lilac." Ceano- 

 thus americamis L., of the United States is known as " New Jersey tea." The 

 astringent roots contain over 6 per cent of tannin, and an alkaloid, ceanothine. 

 They have been used in the treatment of syphilis, and are said to have purga- 

 tive properties. The leaves were used by the Indians to make a beverage like 

 tea, and during the Revolutionary War they were employed along the Atlantic 

 coast as a substitute for Chinese tea. Gilmore ^ states that the flavor of the 

 beverage made from them " is something like that of Asiatic tea and is much 

 better than that of the South American yerba mat6." The fresh flowers of 

 some, and probably of all, of the species, when rubbed in water, gives a cleans- 

 ing lather which is a good substitute for soap. 



Stipules persistent, the bases corky or spongy ; leaves opposite, except in one 

 species; capsule usually with dorsal and apical horns as well as crests; 

 flowers white, umbellate. 



Leaves alternate 1. C. verrucosus. 



Leaves opposite. 



Leaves coarsely dentate 2. C. goldmanii. 



Leaves entire, or rarely with 1 or 2 teeth. 



Leaves cuneate-obovate or spatulate, the margins not revolute. 



3. C. cuneatus. 

 Leaves oblong to oval, the margins revolute. 

 Tomentum of the lower surface of the leaf coarse and loose. 



4. C. lanuginosus. 

 Tomentum very fine and closely appressed 5. C. greggii. 



'Prodr. 2: :31. 1825. 



' Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol. 33 : 102. 1919. 



